Cannabis Club launches petition challenging public consumption bylaw

The Calgary Cannabis Club, a registered non-profit focused on cannabis education and aiding medical and recreational consumers, is challenging a city bylaw that prohibits public pot consumption.

“It is unjust for elector voters of the City of Calgary to have no public area to consume cannabis,” states a petition created by Neil Linton, the events director of the Calgary Cannabis Club.

He would like to see Calgary adopt a bylaw similar to the one in Edmonton, as well as other cities like Toronto and Ottawa, that allow for individuals to smoke or vape cannabis where tobacco consumption is permitted.

In 2019, organizers with Calgary’s Folk Fest received city approval to create a designated cannabis consumption zone. The temporary allowance resulted in just three complaints, which were all reportedly made by the same person.

Linton’s petition also notes that alcohol consumption is allowed in some Calgary public parks, but not cannabis.

Last February, the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Amendment Act was tabled in the Alberta legislature, allowing for public consumption of alcohol in designated areas in any recreational park.

“We don’t think we need to be prescriptive on adults. We actually trust Albertan adults to make good decisions,” Grant Hunter, the former associate minister of red tape reduction, said at a news conference last year.

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